Citizens Not Politicians a con. Flawed amendment must be rejected

Medina County Republican Party Chairman Jim Renacci served four terms in the U.S. Congress and was the 2018 Republican nomination for U.S. Senator from Ohio.

The “Citizens Not Politicians” amendment proposal is nothing but a fraud on Ohioans.

How is it fraudulent? Let’s start with its leadership.

Retired Ohio Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor was the longest serving woman elected statewide in Ohio history. Her tenure as a career politician included over 21 years on the Supreme Court of Ohio as both an associate, then chief justice.

Before that, she served four years as the lieutenant governor of Ohio. O'Conner practiced law in the private sector for just four years outside of law school before being appointed as a court magistrate. The Republican then was elected a judge and county prosecutor in Summit County.

Maureen O’Connor is the epitome of a career politician. To say now that she speaks for citizens and not politicians is beyond belief.

Left-wingers behind reform

The group claims to be nonpartisan, but its list of endorsers is a who’s who of left-wing activist groups, leftist public figures and government employee unions.

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Remember Amy Acton, the left-wing activist that led efforts to shutdown Ohio during COVID-19? She’s first on a list of so called “business leaders” that support this proposal.

The amendment would provide eventually for a panel made up of five Republicans, five Democrats and five independents that would be appointed through a lengthy and convoluted process.

It would bar any panel member that either served, ran for or was appointed to public office, served as a lobbyist, an officer, consultant or contractor for a political party, political action committee or candidate campaign committee. This would apply to immediate family members also.

Most notably, it WOULD NOT prohibit officers, employees, consultants, contractors or major donors for left wing organizations and other similar ideological special interest groups. They would be exempt if they were not registered as lobbyists or worked for a related political action committee.

Each ballot issue committee is required to establish a committee to represent them. We can learn a lot from the five members that represent Citizens Not Politicians, this supposedly nonpartisan ballot issues committee.

Just take a look at who is involved

First on the list is Kevin Cain of Cincinnati.

Cain is a registered Republican but is also a member of the Ohio Education Association, the premier leftist government employee union for Ohio teachers. He has made numerous donations to their political action committee.

Next on this nonpartisan ballot issue committee is Nadia Zaiem.

Zaiem is an attorney and registered Democrat that serves as the co-chair of the Westlake/North Olmsted Chapter of the League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland.

Then there is Michael Ahern.

Ahern appears to be a registered Independent from Franklin County. But in reality, he has made donations in excess of $5,500 to state Democrat candidates in the last four years. He is a former state bureaucrat and has testified numerous times in opposition to Republican bills in the Ohio General Assembly.

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Next up is Annette Tucker Sutherland.

Sutherland is an attorney and a former member of the Shaker Heights City School Board. She is currently chair of the Shaker Heights Chapter of the League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland. She is a registered Republican but has made donations to numerous Ohio Democrat legislators.

Finally, is Michele Roberts.

Roberts is employed as a deputy auditor in the office of the Democrat Montgomery County Auditor. She is a registered Democrat and has made numerous donations to Democrat candidates.

This fifteen-member commission that would be set up will be stacked in a similar manner.

Yes, there would be five registered Republicans and five registered Independents. But they will be hard core, ideological leftists that would vote to gerrymander districts to only favor Democrats.

Since the 1970 census, state legislative lines have been drawn based upon the outcomes of the elections for Governor, Secretary of State and Auditor. Unlike this flawed proposal, these three statewide elected officials are fully accountable to Ohio voters.

If you don’t like the lines drawn the answer is to elect new statewide officials.

To make the system even more accountable, perhaps the legislative members of the redistricting commission could be removed and then replaced by the statewide elected Lt. Governor and Treasurer instead?

Unfortunately, Gov. Mike DeWine waited too long to call a special session of the Ohio General Assembly to place an honest proposal in front of Ohio voters. Under our state constitution the Ohio General Assembly must refer a constitutional amendment proposal at least 90 days before an election.

Our only choice now is to defeat this flawed amendment and start over with a better proposal.

Medina County Republican Party Chairman Jim Renacci served four terms in the U.S. Congress and was the 2018 Republican nomination for U.S. Senator from Ohio. He also ran in the 2022 Ohio Republican primary for governor.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Fraudulent amendment a left-wing push to control voting districts